Vox Pop Has Opened Its Doors Again, Thanks to an Unlikely Savior

January 5, 2010

In mid-December, Vox Pop was shuttered by the tax man for non-payment of back taxes. Debi Ryan, the proprietor of the Ditmas Park coffee house and community center, told Fork in the Road that she wouldn’t be able to re-open until she came up with $10,000 to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. As the Brooklyn Paper reports, Ryan was able to re-open Vox Pop’s doors this week, thanks to an unlikely savior.

According to the paper, none other than Sander Hicks, the original owner of Vox Pop, last month sold $10,000 of his shares in the establishment. Hicks, whose failure to pay his taxes started the coffee house down the road to financial ruin, gave $6,500 back to Vox Pop’s 190 shareholders, who raised the rest of the funds necessary to reclaim the property from the state. Vox Pop officially re-opened on New Year’s Eve, and on January 12 will have a benefit party to raise additional funds to ease its still substantial financial woes.